Pollution into the Green River--Good news! Cascade Forest Conservancy was previously unsuccessful in tracking what happened to the report last October about Acid Mine Drainage in a tributary to the Green River near the proposed Goat Mountain mining site (see Winter 2017 issue of the Whistler). The original report to WA DOE was sent to the federal EPA, and we could not trace it further. On January 25 MSH National Volcanic Monument Manager Ted Huffman told me that the EPA passed the obligation to respond to the report to him. He stated that the U.S. Forest Service will send a team to investigate in the spring when the roads are passable.

Spirit Lake Access–Another version of the EA will soon appear, perhaps with a new lake tunnel maintenance route proposed by scientists studying the Pumice Plain.

Port Westward Expansion

In 2014, Port Westward proposed doubling its area by converting 837 acres from farmland to industrial uses. Columbia County approved the re-zone. However, Columbia Riverkeeper appealed, and the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals denied the re-zone. Now the Port has initiated the same action again, and on November 29, 2017, Columbia County approved it. In January the County appropriated funds to fight an appeal, but Envision Columbia County has raised funds for that appeal, helped by a generous donation from WHAS. We hope the outcome will repeat that of 2014!

Kalama Methanol Plant

Following the successful appeal of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) by Columbia Riverkeeper, Sierra Club, and Earthjustice, Cowlitz County and the Port of Kalama are now writing a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS). The FEIS only considered the greenhouse gas emissions of the methanol production process; the draft SEIS will consider life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, from fracking in Montana to arrival by ship in China. Comments on the scope of that draft SEIS will be accepted Jan. 30, 2018, to March 1, 2018. See http://kalamamfgfacilitysepa.com/. You can also help by sending an email or call to Gov. Inslee, who will be the final arbiter for this project. For talking points, go to Columbia Riverkeeper’s webpage at http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/50797/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=24033

Long Term Conservation Strategy for Marbled Murrelet

In the Fall 2017 issue of the Whistler I explained some of the next steps in creating the FEIS for this 50-year habitat plan. One proposal by Commissioner Hillary Franz was a Solutions Table, a task force to advise on how to protect MAMU and not negatively affect rural counties’ timber revenue from state trust lands. As of Feb. 8, the state legislature is considering HB 2285 that creates such a task force. It has passed through committees and will next have a floor vote. More about this bill is at http://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=2285&Year=2017

Skookumchuck Wind Energy Project

There is no news about when the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for this project in Lewis/Thurston Counties will be published. The Trump administration has issued a “legal opinion” that accidental take of migrating birds is not a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. This may affect whether the project’s design will protect migrating eagles and other raptors, but fortunately Marbled Murrelet in nearby habitat will be protected by their federal listing as threatened and state listing as endangered. This article, despite its misleading title, explains more about the project and the concerns of WHAS and other conservation groups:

The Leadbetter CBC took place on what we might consider a balmy day in the middle of December (average temperature at 46 F) and certainly not typical of most past counts. There were intermittent showers but not the blustery winds, torrential downpours and brutal cold that have often visited years past. Robert and Sam Sudar, once again served us well as count compilers, and many of our past participants continued their tradition as section leaders and support teams.

Robert noted several comparisons to past counts: The 111 species found is the best in several years. The 2016 total was 98 and 2015 was 95. Notable sightings included a rare visit from the north, White-winged Crossbill and rare for the season, Band-tailed Pigeons. Other notable water birds included Black, Surf and White-winged Scooters, Common, Pacific and Red-Throated Loons. We are continuing to see increasing numbers of Western Grebes, 35 this year, after becoming a bit of a rarity 10-15 or so years ago. Horned, Red-necked and Pied-billed Grebes were also seen. 2 Pileated Woodpecker showed up; we know they are around but we don't always see them.

Notable absences were Scaup, American Coot, American Bittern and Mourning Dove. Notable "returnee" which hadn't been seen for several years was the Great Egret. The counts implied a notable trend away from Mourning Doves (1) to Eurasian Collared Doves (43) and Western Scrub Jays, rare several years back, continue to be present.

Of the top 10 species, eight were waterfowl (including American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Mallard) and shorebirds (highest numbers of Dunlin). American Crows and European Starlings were the most numerous in the song bird category.

The other count numbers that resonate with us as count coordinators are the human numbers; we had 35 enthusiastic participants and 3 feeder counters, great section leaders and great fun. The Christmas Bird Count continues to provide excitement and enjoyment

The 20th annual Wahkiakum Christmas Bird Count was held on December 29, 2017, with 21 participants. Rain fell throughout most of the day, heavily at times. There were also fewer birding parties than usual, particularly kayakers to cover the Columbia River islands, so numbers of species and individual birds were lower than average: 104 species, 27,758 birds.

The most abundant bird was Cackling Goose with 7644, followed by Greater Scaup with 2785, the lowest Greater Scaup total in the history of the count. A large falcon seen by Mike Patterson in Brownsmead was probably the Gyrfalcon identified by other birders in the same area the following week. Great Egrets continue to increase their numbers in the area; this year's total of 35 nearly doubled the previous high count.

Last year was the first year Turkey Vultures had been recorded wintering in the count circle, on Puget Island, and Turkey Vultures were present again during this year's count week. Misses included Horned Lark, as not enough boaters were available to send someone to their year-round colony on White's Island.

25 field observers and three feeder watchers joined and spent the cool sunny day finding 17,160 birds with 97 species recorded. The temperature ranged from 31° to 42°. Also during count week an additional 3 species were reported

High or low counts this year: No low counts this year but several highs;

The USDA Forest Service published on February 8, 2018, its decision approving Ascot Resources' application for two permits for exploratory drilling for mining at Goat Rock on the edge of the Mt. Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument. The USFWS’s role was to advise the Bureau of Land Management on whether to issue the permits.

Next will be a decision from the BLM to issue the permits. Unfortunately, once the permits are issued and the company assays the mineral value, the only way to stop mining will be a withdrawal of the Green River Valley from the jurisdiction of federal mining laws.

Please call your federal representatives and tell them how disappointed you are in the USFS's decision, and that you want to see the Green River Valley protected from mining.

The most important person to call is Rep. Herrera-Beutler, who represents the 19th District. Without her support a legislative withdrawal has no chance. Contact information is given at the end of this article.

As usual our composite year list for Cowlitz County got off to a big start on January 1st with the Christmas Bird Count in the Longview/Kelso area.

Then on the 2nd the first ever Cowlitz record of Common Redpolls were found in Longview's Altrusa Park. And not just a single bird, but a nice flock of sixteen mixed with four American Goldfinch. This tiny finch of the north is not found in western Washington annually, but this has been a banner winter for them. Typically when they are found it is one or two individuals in a flock of Pine Siskins, but this year pure flocks of Common Redpolls have been found in numerous places as far south as Olympia. Even farther south there was a flock near Morton for a first Lewis County record and another group seen on Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge in Wahkiakum County.

This phenomenon could well continue through the winter until they return north in late February. They especially like the catkins of alders and birches and may even show up at a seed feeder so be on the lookout in your neighborhood.

Russ shot the image with his phone held up to the scope eyepiece (digiscoped).

In the last two months we only added one species, that being a Northern Shrike on Canal Road near Toutle. We seem to find this species in the county about half of the years.

This was enough to get us exactly to 200 species in 2017, a threshold that we do not always reach, but well short of our record of 207 species. The lone species new to the list this year was a Long-tailed Jaeger found on the Woodland Bottoms. We had one miss of a species that is typically found in Cowlitz annually, that being Northern Saw-whet Owl. This species is a fairly common winter species in the conifer forests of the county and a few likely nest here. Its absence from the list reflects more on our not seeking it out than the lack of its presence.

Russ Koppendrayer is looking forward to a fun year of birding in 2018 and seeing all your reports either to him directly or through Tweeters or eBird.